29 gallon

[Fishies4Ever]

Hi everyone. This is going to be my 29 gallon aquarium journal. It’s going to be long because I can’t really set up the tank for awhile. It’s going to have toucan tetras, panda Cory’s, tiger or orange zebra otto and Heterocharax virgulatus. About 15 of each and only 6 of the ottos. There will be black sand, with a nice aqua scape of some kind
( haven’t figured it out yet )!

 

[Fishies4Ever]

I just have one question for now. What kind of black sand should I get? I want to get black galaxy sand from aqua natural but it would be pretty expensive to get the right amount so anyone have any suggestions of black sand that is nice and soft for the Cory’s but come in a bigger bag?

 

[Byron]

I would not go with black sand here. It will impact the Corydoras panda. I had this species in a 70g tank many years ago with a black substrate, but it was not until I moved them (for other reasons) into a tank with a natural sand (buff/tan) that I realized what a difference the black made. They attempted to blend in, and this means they produce melanin to darken, and long-term this is stressful. The fish is continually working to darken so it will not be so obvious. White is also bad, for the opposite reason.

A natural sand that is inert and soft. There are aquarium sands like this. I have used Quikrete Play Sand for years, and there have not been any issues I could trace back to the sand. It comes in a natural buff shade, and also a dark grey. I happened to have the latter and it did not produce the problematic reaction that the black did. Available from Home Depot and Lowe's, a 25kg (50 lb) bag for 5 or 6 dollars.

Ian Fuller on CorydorasWorld has often written against black sand. No habitat in SA has black sand.

 

[Fishies4Ever]

I would not go with black sand here. It will impact the Corydoras panda. I had this species in a 70g tank many years ago with a black substrate, but it was not until I moved them (for other reasons) into a tank with a natural sand (buff/tan) that I realized what a difference the black made. They attempted to blend in, and this means they produce melanin to darken, and long-term this is stressful. The fish is continually working to darken so it will not be so obvious. White is also bad, for the opposite reason.

A natural sand that is inert and soft. There are aquarium sands like this. I have used Quikrete Play Sand for years, and there have not been any issues I could trace back to the sand. It comes in a natural buff shade, and also a dark grey. I happened to have the latter and it did not produce the problematic reaction that the black did. Available from Home Depot and Lowe's, a 25kg (50 lb) bag for 5 or 6 dollars.

Ian Fuller on CorydorasWorld has often written against black sand. No habitat in SA has black sand.

Thank you I hadn’t realized what an impact a darker colored sand could have on the Cory’s! I’ll check out the sand you suggested for sure!

 

[Lcc86]

Not sure where you are based but if in the UK argos also sell plat sand. I have some pandas on natural coloured sand and don't have any problems with them.

 

[Fishies4Ever]

Not sure where you are based but if in the UK argos also sell plat sand. I have some pandas on natural coloured sand and don't have any problems with them.

Unfortunately I’m not in the UK I’m in the US but thank you

 

[sharkweek178]

Unfortunately I’m not in the UK I’m in the US but thank you

That's ok. Quikrete play sand is available at any Home Depot and lots of other hardware stores.

 

[Fishies4Ever]

Just got the tank yesterday I’ve been working on cleaning off the hard water build up but I won’t be able to finish it until later today!

 

[Fishies4Ever]

Cleaned it with vinegar as best I could I still have to rinse it but I’ll do that tomorrow. I did find that on the base the plastic came off from the glass. Should I fix it and if I should how?